Alaska SBDC Summit 2024

"Bill Smith began his current role as State of Alaska Chief Information Officer in November 2019. In this position he is responsible for leading the Office of information Technology, managing all enterprise information technology services and related resources within the executive branch of the State, and providing strategic oversight of the State enterprise systems and infrastructure.

Shortly after assuming this position, Bill played a key role in technology related response to the global pandemic. During his tenure, the State of Alaska executive branch has made significant strides in enabling secure remote access for employees, drastically reducing cybersecurity vulnerabilities, actively combating the rapid increase in threat activity, and attacking technical debt within the enterprise.

Bill has over 30 years of experience leading teams of all sizes in both the public and private sectors. During his successful career in the United States Army, he was a lead participant in several high-level Headquarters, Department of the Army projects involving operational forecasting and national force structure. Additionally, he was called upon to direct combat military operations and develop an innovative aviation organization and training program to meet critical Army intelligence collection requirements.

After retiring from the Army, Bill chose to stay in Alaska and entered the private sector with a major Alaska based broadband and communications provider. Over the course of several years, he served in senior product, project and program management roles covering the spectrum of technology solutions provided to business, consumer, and government agencies in Alaska. In his role as the Senior Manager of Customer Support, Bill redesigned the company’s service assurance manager program to provide improved and deeply engaged
customer support to strategic partners.

Bill and his wife Jo have three children. Following a military career taking them around the globe, they have enjoyed raising their family and making their home in the Last Frontier."

Shawn Greenway is the Co-founder of FormWise. He has a passion for leveraging SaaS solutions and strategic business development to drive growth. With a background in sales of more than 20 years and extensive experience leading a marketing agency, Shawn specializes in optimizing lead generation processes for companies of all sizes. Shawn has empowered countless entrepreneurs to streamline their sales pipelines and maximize productivity. His expertise and commitment to continuous improvement make him a sought-after speaker, offering valuable insights on business development, marketing strategy, and the power of automation & AI in today's digital landscape.

Javier is a seasoned entrepreneur and Co-Founder of FormWise, with a wealth of experience in directly collaborating with hundreds of small businesses and serving thousands of users in an investor-backed AI startup. His deep understanding of the needs and challenges faced by small businesses, coupled with his expertise in harnessing the power of AI technology, has enabled him to envision a platform that democratizes AI for anyone with no code. Javier's passion for innovation and dedication to empowering businesses through technology make him an interesting speaker, offering valuable insights into the intersection of AI, entrepreneurship, and business development.

Julie Decker, PhD, is the Director/CEO of the Anchorage Museum in Alaska, which is a leading center for scholarship, engagement, and investigation of Alaska and the North. Decker’s career has been focused on the people and environment of Northern places and building projects and initiatives that are in service to local and global communities. Before becoming Director/CEO, Decker served as the Museum’s Chief Curator. She has a doctorate in art history, a master’s degree in arts administration, and bachelors degrees in fine arts and journalism. She has curated and designed numerous exhibitions, taught classes, and authored and edited numerous publications on subjects ranging from contemporary art and architecture of the North, to many aspects of the Arctic environment and histories.

For over 15 years, our CMO Jennifer Christensen is a digital marketing expert in Alaska and nationwide. Her ability to make connections between concepts, ideas, and trends alongside her award-winning sales and marketing expertise has presented opportunities for local and national speaking engagements – and has propelled Beacon from the local level to working nationwide, predominantly in the fields of mental health and functional medicine.

In 2012, Jennifer joined forces with Adrienne Wilkerson of Beacon Publishing + Design to form Beacon Media + Marketing with a vision to help small businesses thrive. Together, they honed the Beacon vision and decided to prioritize people over profit, or what they both like to call, profit with a purpose.

Jennifer’s comprehensive knowledge includes all aspects of social media, web, email, online advertising, AI tools, and media buying plans. As a leader of our hybrid company, her contagious positive energy and charming smile permeate our homes and offices every single day.

Jennifer has a Certificate in Online Marketing and Social Media from the University of San Francisco. She was also the first Alaskan to be Inbound Marketing Certified. Alongside Adrienne, she was jointly recognized as the Marketing Visionary of the Year by the American Marketing Association of Alaska. In addition, recently she was named Marketer of the Year by AMA Alaska and together with CEO Adrienne Wilkerson landed Beacon Media + Marketing on the INC 5000 list in 2023, won the Communicator Award for UX Structure & Navigation for the Ellie Mental Health website, and recently was honored as a Clutch Champion in the Fall of 2023.

Jennifer is passionate about fitness, learning about new and emerging AI tools, her volunteer work, and she is a proud wife and mother – having been married to her husband for over 30 years and counting. She currently attends the Harvard University Extension Program and is finishing her Master’s Degree. Jennifer is fulfilled by serving her family and her community at large and uplifting others and currently serves on the Board of the Downtown Soup Kitchen, and the Hope Center.

Dayne Broderson is a computer and information research scientist and program manager. He is the project director of two capacity-building programs at ACEP: the Alaska Regional Collaboration for Technology Innovation and Commercialization (ARCTIC) program and the Modeling of Converter Dominated Power System (CDPS) project. He is on the Teaching Through Technology (T3) alliance leadership team and is the chief technologist for the UAF Alaska T3 program.

Broderson holds a B.S. in computer science from UAF. With 20 years of experience in research and operational IT & Data Systems for academic, federal, state, and local government organizations, he has performed general and technical management, program development, and data and IT systems development at UAF.

Lanáat yóo x‘át duwasáakw
Yéil náa áyá x‘át
Lukaax.ádi x‘át sitee
Yéil hít áyá x‘át
Shanguqueidí yadí áyá x‘át
Jilkaat dax áyá x‘át
I am Rico Lanaat Worl
I am of the raven moiety
I am from the Lukaax.ádí clan
And from the raven house
From the Chilkat Kwaan
I am from my fathers people, the Shanguqeidí
I am from 10 thousand years of a people’s relationship to this land
I am from at least 4 thousand years of a people’s study in a specific design style
I am from 525 year of colonization
And more importantly, I am from 525 years of survivance
I am from the Tlingit People and the Athabascan people
I am from the dedication of the generations before me as they worked to pass the Alaska Native
Claims Settlement Act
I am from a family of strong loving people.
I am from sega genesis and super nintendo with my cousins
And from star trek and star wars with my homework
and I’m from the 90’s with my homies
from the rise of the age of the internet.
I am from university of pennsylvania department of Anthropology class of 2008
I am from urban exploration
I’m from hometown Downtown
I am from pigment and silver
I am from digital vector points.
Where I am from has brought me to 3 major goals that all my work addresses: Intra-Community
Strength, Inter-Community Connection, and Cultural Diplomacy.
Intra-Community strength - Trickster Company happened when I painted my own longboard with
my clan crest. To represent. I made one for my cousin and then for his cousin. It was clear
Native people were drawn to items that are symbols of both their modern daily identity mixed
with representing their indigenous identity. I create to provide symbols for cultural pride. The
playing cards were a response to seeing so much “native art” sold to tourists with little to more

likely no return to the communities that spent thousands of years developing formline. I create to
bring home a fraction of that market share. Survivance is a term coined by Anishinaabe cultural
theorist Gerald Viznor. Survivance is more than mere survival, its means to tell of an active
presence and a rich faceted continuance.
Inter-Community connection - Cross cultural understanding and empathy is vital to our diverse
community. And the future is diverse, so it’s urgent we all have strong bridges for sharing our
social capital. I often design with the goal that the things I make can be enjoyed by anyone,
giving anyone the opportunity to appreciate NWC art style without appropriating it.
Cultural Diplomacy - Having the opportunity to be visible, I also have the responsibility to
represent. With the opportunity of a platform I hope to educate those I reach about the richness
our culture has to offer.
Creativity is really both the means for social opportunities as well as the product.

Lauren Decker, co-founder and Chief Science Officer at PolArctic, holds a Masters in Science (MS) in Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island and has over a decade of scientific research, modeling, and data analysis experience. Lauren is the Lead Scientist and responsible for PolArctic's Project Management Division and oversight of contracts. She is Yup’ik, born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska.
PolArctic is an oceanographic, and data science company with a focus on creating tailored products of the Arctic. We are identifying and creating solutions to business and policy questions about the Arctic through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) techniques. This allows our customers the ability to confidently plan future Arctic maritime activities.

Meredith Noble is one of Alaska’s best-kept secret success stories for startup entrepreneurs. She co-founded Learn Grant Writing, a 7-figure online membership for those building a career in grant writing and is leading AI innovation for grant writers. Her book, How to Write a Grant: Become a Grant Writing Unicorn, is a bestseller for nonprofit fundraising and grants. Her expertise has been featured in NASDAQ, Forbes, Business Insider, and other top publications. When not being Chief Grant Writing Unicorn, Meredith can now be found adventuring with her family or reading.